New Delhi office:

ART & CULTURAL HERITAGE

While the performance of the international market for art and antiques remains cautious overall, there continues to be unabated interest and investment in high quality art from private individuals, professionals, and institutional collectors alike, whether driven by passion or calculation. The art market now functions on a truly global level. But while record sales prices for quality art grab headlines in the international press, forgery and deceit, and the plunder and theft of cultural heritage in crisis torn regions of the world have reached unprecedented levels, creating traps not only for the unwary amateur but even for major international institutions who dispose of unparalleled expertise in their areas of interest.

Yet wherever art is created, acquired, sold, consigned, auctioned, loaned, insured, exhibited, exported, imported, or misappropriated, it is subject to a maze of international conventions and differing National laws, regulations and practices, covering as diverse a range of areas as contract, property, tort, intellectual property, trade, customs, tax and inheritance law, as well as the rules on conflicts of laws, governing and controlling the activities of artists, publishers, dealers, galleries, auctioneers, financiers, insurers, private and public collectors, and major museums worldwide.

We share our clients’ passion for art and bring our legal experience and expertise in this area to bear when they undertake transactional or dispute resolution. We also advise and act for collectors and dealers of other high value collectibles.